Under the popular museum series ‘Exhibit of the Month’ of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, a traditional object was displayed for a month. The exhibit for the month of December, 2017 is ‘Aftaba’.
The Aftaba is one of the objects that is most characteristic of everyday life in Islamic World. The ewer stands on a circular foot. The roundness of the Indian ewers in fact reveals the influence of the mellonate shape of the Indian pot.
Both in India, and in the Islamic lands of the Middle East, the hot and harsh climate makes a water bearing vessel very important. It was used for ritually cleansing one’s had before prayer and for washing hands before and after meal. The ewer thus was an important part of every aristocratic as well as middle class house hold.
It would have originally been part of a set and would have had a matching sailabchi (basin). In Islamic thought and in poetry, particularly in Persia, water has always had a great significance. Paradise or Jannat in Quaran is described as a garden and gardens depend on water.
Aftaba held a cultural significance as well, Ewers and other water container were very popular motifs in art and architecture. From the earliest period, right until the nineteenth century they also formed the subject of many Iranian ceramics. Ewers are commonly seen in Persian and Mughal paintings amongst the utensils and items depicted in royal court scenes as well as in the niches of palaces as items of decoration.